MARKUS X'S POV

That jackwagon! I knew he was going to throw me a curveball in these trials! As the rest of the party left with the Emperor, I was stuck in the throne room with Skarlet and Mileena. The blood creature turned and looked at me before raising a delicate eyebrow. "Well, are we going to begin my training, or not?"

I merely nodded before motioning for her and Mileena to follow me into the portal leading to Earthrealm. Back in the carnage of the city streets, I scanned around before finding exactly what I was looking for: a clothing store. Stepping inside the battered building, I turned around, holding the door open for the two women. "Ladies first."

As the two scantily-clad ninjas passed into the rather large building, I scanned through the intact signs before hurredly rushing towards one marked "Women's Clothing." Finding a pair of jeans and a red tube top, I hurredly rushed back to Skarlet and shoved the clothes into her arms.

"Quick, try these on!"

I nearly facepalmed when the sorcery-enhanced creation of Shao Kahn stabbed herself, her clothing changing exactly to what I had tossed her, sans her mask and boots.

"Okay then... Go for a shoulder-length hairstyle and ditch the mask."

Skarlet did exactly as I intended. I could now see that her face was quite attractive, but as I was already enraptured with Mileena, I tried to think nothing of it. Rushing off to the shoe aisle, I found a pair of nice women's tennis shoes and some black jean shorts that were better than the jeans.

"Here, try these."

Skarlet paused, looking at me for a brief moment. "Do you enjoy watching me stab myself over and over again?"

I shrugged. "Beautiful women appearing to commit suicide over and over again are sort of mixed in my opinion. Yes, you're hot, but you're also stabbing yourself in the chest, which I'm guessing hurts."

The arcane creation looked at me, not knowing what I was talking about. It was then that I truly facepalmed, realizing I had a teaching tool available to me that I had never thought of.

"Siri!"

A voice emanated from a pocket in the kevlar jumpsuit that formed the undersuit of the armor. "What is it you need, Markus?"

Pulling an object out of my pocket, an iPhone 5 I had wasted a hundred dollars upgrading from my iPhone 4S for, I quickly handed it to Skarlet. "This is Siri. Ask her questions about Earthrealm culture and she should give you an answer. I have the latest updates, after all."

Skarlet looked at the object in her hand before looking back at me. "This... person... will give me the answers I need?"

I nodded at her. "Sure! My iPhone 5 has a spare battery case. Can run for sixteen hours at full brightness without running out of juice."

She clearly had no idea what I was talking about, but began to talk to Siri as myself and Mileena left her there. Before we exited, I reminded the red ninja of one last thing.

"Be sure to have that phone with you when we meet up later! After this is all over, I need to give some friends a call."

She nodded as myself and my babe left the room, heading down the street to see what we could do in less than twelve hours.

MILEENA'S POV

Well, I certainly knew what we could do to pass the time, but for now, I was content with watching the carnage unfold as Trojan and I watched a Tormentor fight with several policemen. The Outworld creature was too slow to hit any of the miniscule men, but likewise, their bullets did nothing to it, reflecting off of its hide like a mirror. I smiled, knowing that there was no chance of any mere Earthrealm law enforcement stopping such a powerful beast.

As we leaned against the guardrail, I heard someone nearby. With a quick sniff, I immediately recognized who the person was.

"Jade..."

Trojan looked at me, clearly wondering who Jade was, but quickly found out as her razorang flew through the air, grinding against his helmet for a split second Before returning to her grasp. As Trojan turned to look at the former assassin, be paused for a moment before taking his hand and smacking the front of his helmet.

"OH COME ON! First a reptile ninja, then a woman made entirely out of blood, and now a dark-skinned Princess Leia wannabe? Wait, don't tell me! Your full name is Jade Kimona Wanaleia."

Smacking my playmate on his shoulder rather hard, I shut him up, not wanting to hear him rant about Jade, though I knew it would be funny if he did so. "What do you want, Jade? Another shot at dealing with me?"

Jade merely rolled her eyes at me before looking at Trojan. "So, it would seem that you were given a Lin Kuei cyborg as a partner. How... Innovative."

The moment I heard her say 'cyborg,' I regretted not immediately attacking her as Trojan clearly began to get infuriated.

"WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP CALLING ME A CYBORG!?"

My furious soon-to-be-boyfriend removed his helmet, his face turning red from sheer infuriation.

"I SWEAR TO GOD THAT THE NEXT PERSON TO CALL ME A CYBORG IS GOING TO GET THEIR BUTT HACKED OFF THEIR BODY AND MOUNTED ON A PLAQUE OVER MY FIREPLACE!"

I tried unsuccessfully to calm Trojan down, all the while listening to Jade mock me.

"I expected you to take care of your partner, but then again, you do run through them faster than Tanya does easily manipulative men. I am rather surprised that this one evidently has not seen you without your mask. If he had, I would have expected him to be quivering with fear over your face by now."

I was about to throw my sais at the annoying Edenian when Trojan broke off from his hatred and focused solely on Jade's last comment.

"Hold up... Who do you think you are insulting my girlfriend like that?"

Jade was visibly shocked, and I smiled as she soaked in the fact that I was in a relationship, albeit not officially.

"I am Jade, former assassin of Shao Kahn and bodyguard of Kitana, Princess of Edenia."

"Kitana?" Trojan's eyebrow raised. "You mean the stuck-up, ill-bred woman who from day one harassed and demeaned my precious Mileena?"

"Harrassed? Mileena tried to kill her!"

"Mileena has told me her side of the story. She awoke, attempted to be friendly towards her 'sister,' but was scorned, called a monstrosity, and attacked by Kitana. You are very closed-minded to accept Kitana's words as fact."

"I trust Kitana to tell the truth. Now please, let us dispense with this worthless talk. I must meet with the others in the Temple. Do not attempt to stop me."

I lurched forward, intending to fight Jade and end her worthless life, but was grabbed by Trojan. "Mileena, stop it! Leave Miss Stupid over here to her own devices. With blind loyalty such as that, I don't see her surviving for much longer."

Slowly, my bloodlust calmed down to the point where I did not want to plunge my sais into Jade before tearing her neck out with my teeth. "You are right, Trojan. Let us return to Outworld. My father will need us soon for the conclusion of your next challenge."

The two of us turned away from Jade, but Trojan turned quickly back. "Nice meeting you, Jade."

I was not sure, but I thought I heard Jade say "What in the name of..." before we left hearing distance.